Mets beat Cardinals, 3-0, to win third straight game

The Mets (14-7) won their third straight game against the St. Louis Cardinals (9-12) with a clean 3-0 win on Saturday afternoon at Citi Field.

Here are the takeaways…

-Despite a hot Saturday afternoon at the ballpark, the offenses were cold and held mostly in check as Kodai Senga and St. Louis starter Matthew Liberatore were locked in a pitcher’s duel. Both pitchers were coming off scoreless outings of six or more innings in their last start and kept it going on Saturday with Senga able to keep his scoreless streak alive by escaping a couple of jams.

In the second, after a one-out walk followed by a double, the right-hander came back from 2-0 on Nolan Gorman by throwing three straight forkballs and getting Gorman to swing and miss on all three for the strikeout — one of just four strikeouts by Senga on the day. A flyout to center ended the scoring threat.

Then in the fifth, a leadoff double and wild pitch put a runner on third and nobody out for a prime scoring chance for the Cards. However, Senga struck out Gorman once again (on a forkball) for the first out before his defense helped him out on the next batter.

-Freshly inserted into the game after Mark Vientosexited with what the team announced as “groin discomfort”, Brett Baty fielded a grounder to third base and with the runner at third running on contact, Baty immediately went home with the throw to nab Thomas Saggese at the plate by a comfortable margin as Luis Torrens applied the tag.

Senga’s defense came to his rescue again in the sixth, this time a double play turned by Luisangel Acuna and Francisco Lindor after a walk and single put runners on first and second. With a chance to maneuver through another jam, Senga hit Nolan Arenado to end his outing after 5.2 innings. Reed Garrett did his part and got the final out of the inning to preserve Senga’s scoreless streak and lower his season ERA to 0.79.

-Facing Liberatore, New York’s offense was able to push across two runs in the third. The first was driven in by Juan Soto who singled home Acuna and the second came via Pete Alonso‘s double — his ninth already this season.

Other than that, Liberatore’s ledger was clean as the left-hander went 6.2 innings, striking out six.

-Alonso added an insurance run in the eighth with his sixth home run. The slugger finished 2-for-4 and is now hitting .356 with a 1.220 OPS as his early season success continues.

–A.J Minter survived the eighth inning despite three walks and set up Edwin Diaz who looked dominant in the ninth, striking out two and securing his fifth save in as many opportunities.

Game MVP: Pete Alonso

Alonso is doing it all right now as his 23 RBI lead the Mets and is one off Aaron Judge for the MLB-lead.

Highlights

What’s next

The Mets will look for the sweep when they close out their four-game series against the Cardinals on Easter Sunday with first pitch scheduled for 1:40 p.m.

RHP Clay Holmes (2-1, 3.66 ERA) faces off against RHP Sonny Gray (3-0, 3.13 ERA).

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